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Re: 1830's Boxwood clarinet help

Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2019-01-13 05:10

Hello Anna,

I hope all is well with you.

I took a look at the photo of the clarinet you posted to Facebook and it looks to have been very well-preserved and restored.

There are two things you might want to consider.
The first thing is to soak the joints of the instrument (particularly the upper joint and barrel) in oil before playing the instrument for any length of time, to avoid cracking.

Secondly, I know period clarinetists who play original period instruments (as opposed to replicas) that have the upper side trill key (typical of English boxwood clarinets), and they plug that tone-hole (the tone-hole higher than the throat A tone-hole).
Boxwood expands and shrinks when you play it, enough that keeping that trill tone-hole sealing becomes a constant battle.
I don't have any period clarinets with that trill key (I have avoided them), but when I studied with Eric Hoeprich, he mentioned that on his instruments with that upper trill key, he plugged that tone-hole because keeping it sealing was difficult.

If you get the pads close to sealing, one trick you can do to make them seal is to wrap the pad and cup in plumber's tape. Often that creates a workable seal. I did a concert on period clarinets a while ago in Boston and New York and the two of us had plumber's tape on our throat A keys to create a better seal.

Period clarinet-maker Thomas Carroll recently joined this bboard and will have excellent advice for you, should he read your post.

Best,
Simon

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